


Triple Angel

by cybernya



Category: Triple Frontier (2019)
Genre: Babysitting, Developing Relationship, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, F/M, Falling In Love, Post-Canon, Reader-Insert, eventual hurt/comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2019-11-28 20:26:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18213209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cybernya/pseuds/cybernya
Summary: It’s about five months post-Brazil. Frankie’s baby girl, Isabella Ariana Morales, is six months old now. He and the mother have officially separated - honestly, he doesn’t know where she is. It went… poorly when he returned. Back before Isabella was born, he thought they could make it work. Frankie did everything he could but - he just couldn’t love her anymore. And it seemed she felt the same way. (Because this is a perfect world, he has full custody - the mother has relinquished her parental rights so she could “go live her life.”)Santi, Will, and Benny are involved in Isabella’s life as much as they can be. Santi even went as far to buy some Metallica onesies for the little girl. (Something about trying to pass on his music taste to his goddaughter…)They’ve noticed how the separation has worn down Frankie. They’ve noticed that he’s teetering on the edge again, and well –They suggest he gets a sitter to help out, so eventually? Maybe he could have the life he wanted.** Reader is a high school English teacher. Slow burn, but not as slow as you'd probably expect?





	1. Chapter 1

Things weren’t so good when Frankie got back.

He thought — he thought the new baby would have shown his girl that he was ready, that this is what they were meant to do… but all it did was show him how much she didn’t trust him. 

And how much he didn’t love her.

It wasn’t easy, trying to separate with a newborn after going through hell.

Frankie found himself exhausted, thinking about old habits and deeds and what kind of man he was.

Santi noticed. Benny noticed. Will noticed.

The three of them - though it was mostly Santi as he rocked the baby to sleep in his arms in the middle of Frankie’s crowded kitchen - convinced him to look for a sitter. 

“There’s gotta be some good sitters out there. You should probably take interviews!” Benny offered, watching the small bundle in Santi’s arms.

“Interviews?” Frankie looked skeptical. 

“We could be here,” Will said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Be here? And what? I’ll have three ex-spec ops guys scare the living shit out of anyone willing to take care of my child?” 

Santi sighed, readjusting his hold on the baby girl. “We just want to help you.”

Frankie ran a hand through his hair, looking even more exhausted. After a long pause, he relented. “I’ll consider it.” A beat, as Benny looked like he was ready to light up the room, and then — “but I’m going to be the one to find a sitter. Not you. Me.”

“Okay, okay,” Will and Benny nodded, exchanging a look with each other.

 

A few days later, and a couple of hours lost scrolling babysitter websites, Frankie was making a few calls.

“Yeah, hi — listen, I’m Francisco Morales, I’m looking for a sitter for my kid? I found your information on that babysitter website and I was wondering if you were interested. She’s - she’s only six months old — no infants? Oh. Thank you.”

The pattern seemed to repeat, with good sitters turning down the job.

Until he called you, anyways. 

“Hello?”

“Hi, I’m Francisco Morales. I found your information online, as I’m looking for a sitter for my infant daughter,” Frankie sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Please don’t say no…

“Okay!” You chirped, holding your phone against your shoulder as you dug out the sticky notes from your bag.

“O—Okay?”

“When do you need me to start? I can definitely do afternoons after 2:40 and evenings.”

“You’re saying yes?” Frankie sounded incredulous, glancing over at his sleeping daughter.

“I am, is that a problem? Have you heard from someone else?” Your voice fell slightly - you were really hoping for the extra income. 

“No — no! No, not at all! Thank you! I - can you come over tonight? At - At least to meet?” 

“Oh, sure!” You sounded so cheery on the other end of the phone. 

“Great, great! That’s great! Here, come over and we can discuss pay. Thank you, thank you!”

You carefully took down his address before saying goodbye - your evening of grading just took a turn for the better.

 

Frankie was — nervous. He hadn’t heard from his ex-wife in a while, and there hadn’t been any other women besides his daughter come into his life in the last year. If Santi caught wind of this —

“Son of a —“ Frankie cursed, yelping as his phone buzzed on the counter, praying that it wasn’t Santi with some sick sense of humor and the radar of some of his toys.

[sms: Pope] how’s the search going buddy?

Of course it was.

Thankfully, the doorbell rang - “Coming!”

 

Outside, you shifted your weight, fingers carefully wrapped around the strap of the bag on your shoulder. 

“Sorry about that,” Frankie smiles as the door opens. You’re surprised at how soft he looks, with most of the men in town being the hard type. “Please, come in.”

You tip-toe in behind him, watching as he ducks into a room. For a moment, you stand in the hallway, quietly taking in your surroundings before you notice that he’s back, a small purple bundle in his arms.

“You can call me Frankie, and this sleepy little beauty is Isabella Ariana Morales,” he beams. You notice his eyes are shining - and there’s a scar on his cheek. The baby yawns and gurgles in her father’s arms, quickly falling back asleep.

Frankie nods for you to follow him, and you do - into the room he came out of just moments ago with baby Isabella.

“You don’t know how happy I am to know that you’re willing to watch Isabella here…” he admitted, sitting back on the couch with the baby on his chest, his hands rubbing small circles into her back.

“Of course! Like I said earlier, I’m available after 2:40 most days and can do evenings…” you explained, setting your bag on the floor. “I know many people don’t want to watch infants, but I really don’t mind. Grading alone isn’t that fun.”

Frankie blinked - he had assumed that, due to your younger appearance, you were perhaps a college student. (He didn’t read the part of your “sitter profile” where it listed your two Master’s degrees and teaching certification.)

You chuckled - even after teaching for five years, you’re still mistaken for a college (and, on occasion, a high school) student.

“Just know that your daughter is in good hands,” you said, a soft smile grading your features as Frankie looked down at the sleeping Isabella.

And with that, you agreed to become the babysitter. 

Frankie prayed that Benny, Santi, and Will would never find out who you are.


	2. Chapter 2

Settling into a new routine took work; you had to rearrange your empty life, and Frankie had to stop spending every waking moment with Isabella.

It worried him to no end.

“Will she be okay without me?” he had asked while at a check-up appointment for Isabella, safely tucking her into the carrier.

“She’ll be fine. Besides, you said the person you hired was a teacher?” the nurse practitioner asked, writing a note in Isabella’s file. “Teachers have plenty of training on child development. You’ve probably hired the best person besides a nurse to take care of your daughter.”

That comment was the reassurance Frankie needed to be able to finally set up the first night with you.

“Okay, so, Isabella’s got a dose of medication - it’s the last dose, actually - to take before bed. It’s really easy, all liquid, she should be fine,” Frankie explained as he walked around the kitchen with Isabella in his arms. “Obviously, you have my number, but I also left a friend’s number in case of an emergency and you can’t get me.”

“Really, Frankie, we’re going to be fine. Remember, I’m a teacher. I went to classes for child development.”

“Funny, the nurse today said something about that,” he said offhand, head tilted slightly.

“Seriously, go enjoy tonight. Isabella and I will be fine,” you smiled, putting your hand on your hip. “Take care of yourself. It’s a Friday, don’t worry about being back late.”

“But it --”

“Nope, no excuses.” There was just something about this sitter that made him feel at ease as if there was already some familiarity between them. 

“Okay, okay,” Frankie caved, shifting Isabella off his shoulder. “Be good for her, mi vida.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead as you held out your arms, waiting to take her.

“She’s going to be an angel, I can just tell,” you smiled, Isabella squirming in your arms slightly. “A wiggly one, but an angel nonetheless.”

Frankie laughed softly - Isabella looks so natural in your arms, despite her squirming against your hold. He wondered what your life was like, what allowed him to hire you as a sitter. Clearly no kids of your own, no wedding ring -- nothing to reflect a life outside teaching. The thought to ask you why you agreed to this crossed his mind, but his phone buzzed in his pocket.  
“Right, right. Again, call me if there’s any emergencies, and if you can’t get me, then call that number and --”

“Frankie,” you sighed, Isabella drooling over your shirt, “go. I know it’s hard, but this will be good for you.”

He nodded, adjusting his baseball hat before grabbing the car keys off the table. It was hard to say goodbye like this - while you could clearly be trusted, you weren’t family, you weren’t Santi or Will or Benny…

 

Frankie checked his phone every few minutes, the beer in front of him starting to go warm.

“Frankie,” Santi sighed, “I know that it's hard to leave Isabella behind with someone new, with someone who wasn’t one of us or your family, but you told me yourself that this woman was a teacher. She’s clearly smart, and Isabella is in good hands. Probably better than any of ours, if you think about it.”

Frankie nodded and flipped his phone face-down. “I know, but -”

“Don’t ‘but’ me, you’re here to enjoy yourself without your baby. It’s a Friday night, it’s happy hour… live a little.” Santi clapped his hand on Frankie’s shoulder, the corner of his lip turned upwards in a half smile. He worried about his friends, and especially worried about Frankie.

Ever since Brazil, things weren’t the same, and they never would be.

It was a hard pill to swallow, especially with the whole trip being his idea.

But Santiago still smiled as he drank with who he would consider his best friend, even after three years in Columbia. 

 

The night off was exactly what Frankie needed. He felt more like himself than he had in months, and when he came home to find you grading in the chair next to Isabella’s crib where she was sound asleep, he knew that you were really the right choice for the job. 


	3. Chapter 3

Your new routine was easy to fall into. 

Frankie started with two days a week, then four, eager to see how happy Isabella was when you walked through the door. She had already started to recognize you, two months into the job.

  
  


Santi wondered who this miracle of a teacher could be as Frankie fidgeted in his seat. 

“Does she live in town? How far does she have to commute for work?” He asked, nodding at the bartender for another beer.

Honestly, Frankie didn’t have the answers. He shrugged as he sipped his beer, baseball hat pushed back off his head slightly. Should he know? Probably. But he got so distracted by her smile when she walked through the door, and even on Isabella’s bad days, she still handled everything like a champ. 

“Don’t ignore me, pendejo.” Santi pointed the mouth of his bottle at Frankie, shaking his head.

“I don’t even know the answers myself,” he mumbled, taking a long drink of his beer.

“Que manches!”

“Really. I didn’t think to ask her anything about herself, I was too excited she was willing to watch Isa for me,” Frankie admitted, staring at his own beer bottle.

“I think you’ve got an angel on your hands. Let me meet her, you said she’s got my number in case of an emergency --”

“Not happening, Santi. I plan on keeping you and everyone else as far away from her as possible,” Frankie said, shaking his head.

Santi groaned and took a sip of his beer. “You’re in deep, then. It’s been what, two months? I mean, don’t get me wrong, Fish, I’m happy for you. Seriously. You’re more… _you_.”

There was a long pause for a moment, and the only sound was that of the other bar patrons, clinking glasses, and the bartender filling ice buckets. 

“More _you_ than you’ve been in a long while, anyway.”

“Duly noted.”

“But you don’t know anything about her? What does she do when Isa’s asleep?” Santi asked, an eyebrow raised.

“I’ve come home to find her grading papers at the kitchen table. She teaches high schoolers, that much I know, and I’m pretty sure it’s English class.” Frankie finishes off his beer before continuing; “I don’t think she’s married. No ring, doesn’t talk about having to be home earlier to take care of pets, or a significant other…”

Santi frowned slightly; was she just lonely? Why did his sitter prefer to spend time with a growing infant instead of her friends? Or did she not have any of those either? The questions swirled in his brain as Frankie switched the topic to Benny’s latest fights.

  
  
  


You walked out of Isabella’s room, sighing as she finally sounded to go back to sleep. She was starting to deal with separation anxiety, not just from her father, but from you as well. Your presence in her life had not gone unnoticed. Thankfully, her plush bunny is there for her  - that way, self-soothing is instilled and that every time she wakes up crying does not mean she gets to fall asleep in your arms again.

The door creaked open from the kitchen, and you checked your watch; it was nearly midnight. You almost expected Frankie to be out longer than that, seeing as he said he would be out with Santiago.

“She just went back down,” you said as you walked into the kitchen, moving to clean up your papers. “She’s been waking up in the middle of the night it seems. I think if we can get her through her separation anxiety, she’ll be okay. Doesn’t help she’s attached to me now…”

Frankie chuckled. “You make that sound like a problem.”

“It’s not! I guess I just feel bad that I’m not always here for her,” you shrugged, haphazardly shoving the unfinished papers into a folder before into your bag.

“You have your own life, how can I expect you to be here for her all the time?” Frankie said, lips pressed into a thin line. Santi had made a point that you were an adult, with your own life too. 

You shrugged. “I guess I just read into her development a bit too much. I just want her to have consistency with me, you know?”

Frankie watched as you finished packing your things. It looked like you wanted to say something else as well, but whatever it was, died on your tongue.

“You’re an angel for that, you know? I don’t think there would be any other sitter concerned with her growth like that…” He paused for a moment before stifling a laugh. “Then again, what did you remind me that your sitter profile said? Master’s degree? Teaching certification? Honestly, you’re overqualified.”

“Overqualified?” You break into a smile for a moment, looking down towards where Isabella’s room was. This was what your normal banter was like - not the vaguely depressing mood that took over earlier. “So, does that mean I can bargain for a higher pay rate?”

“Oh, is that what you’re looking for?” Frankie felt courageous, his discussion from earlier at the bar giving him an idea. “How ‘bout I put something else on the table.”

A hand falls to your hip as you shoulder your work bag. “And what’s that?”

“A date. With me.” 


End file.
